Payment transaction processing systems have been created to enable consumers to pay for products and services at merchants without exchanging money at the time of the purchase. An exemplary transaction processing system 100, depicted in FIG. 1, includes an issuer 104 of a payment account for use by a consumer 102; a transaction handler 106, such as a credit card company; an acquirer 108; and a merchant 110. Payment cards are issued to individual people and to business entities, thus the consumer 102 may be a person to whom the payment card was issued or may be a person having access to the card funds, such as an employee of a business entity to which the payment card was issued. When a payment card is issued, the issuer 104 often provides a portable payment device 112 for use by the consumer 102. Examples of portable payment devices include a credit or debit card, a gift card, a smartcard, a smart media, a payroll card, a health care card, a wrist band, a machine readable medium containing account information, a keychain device such as the SPEEDPASS® commercially available from ExxonMobil Corporation or a supermarket discount card, a cellular phone, personal digital assistant, a pager, a security card, a computer, an access card, a wireless terminal, a contactless sticker or a transponder. The portable payment device 112 may have a volatile or non-volatile memory to store information such as the card number or an cardholder's name.
A typical transaction begins with the consumer 102 presenting an card that has a number, such as through the use of a computer terminal or a portable payment device 112, to the merchant 110 to pay for the purchase of a product or service. The merchant 110 may utilize a Point of Service (POS) terminal 114 to obtain a payment card number from the portable payment device 112. The portable payment device 112 may interface with the POS terminal using a mechanism including any suitable electrical, magnetic, or optical interfacing system. The POS terminal 114 is in operative communication with the transaction processing system 100 and can communicate with the acquirer 108, the transaction handler 106, or the issuer 104. For a usual purchase transaction, the POS terminal sends a transaction authorization request to the issuer 104 of the portable payment device 112. Alternatively, or in combination, the portable payment device 112 may communicate with the issuer 104, the transaction handler 106, or the acquirer 108.
The issuer 104 responds by authorizing or denying the transaction authorization request using the transaction handler 106. Authorization includes the issuer 104, or the transaction handler 106 on behalf of the issuer 104, authorizing the purchase transaction in compliance with the issuer's 104 instructions, such as through the use of business rules. A message indicating authorization or denial of the transaction authorization request is sent back through the transaction handler 106 to the merchant 110. The transaction handler 106 may maintain a log or history of authorized transactions. Once approved, the merchant 110 records the authorization and delivers the product or service to the consumer 102.
The merchant 110 may, at discrete periods, such as the end of the day, submit a list of authorized transactions to the acquirer 108 or other components of the transaction processing system 100. The transaction handler 106 may compare the submitted authorized transaction list with its own log of authorized transactions. If a match is found, the transaction handler 106 may route authorization transaction amount requests from the corresponding acquirer 108 to the corresponding issuer 104 involved in each transaction. Once the acquirer 108 receives the payment of the authorized transaction amount from the issuer 104, it can forward the payment to the merchant 110 less any transaction costs, such as fees. If the transaction involves a debit or prepaid card, the acquirer 108 may choose not to wait for the initial payment prior to paying the merchant 110.
There may be intermittent steps in the foregoing process, some of which occur simultaneously. For example, the acquirer 108 can initiate the clearing and settling process, which can result in payment to the acquirer 108 for the amount of the transaction. The acquirer 108 may request from the transaction handler 106 that the transaction be cleared and settled. Clearing includes the exchange of financial information between the issuer 104 and the acquirer 108, and settlement includes the exchange of funds. The transaction handler 106 can provide services in connection with settlement of the transaction. The settlement of a transaction involves an issuer 104 withdrawing an amount of a transaction settlement from a clearinghouse, such as a clearing bank, for deposit into a settlement house, such as a settlement bank. The corresponding acquirer 108 withdraws the amount of the transaction settlement from the settlement bank. Typically, the settlement bank is chosen by the transaction handler 106, and the clearing bank is chosen by the acquirer 108. Thus, a typical transaction involves various entities to request, authorize, and fulfill the processing of the transaction for clearing and settlement.
Some transactions involve a prepaid card in which a given amount of money has been deposited in a card account for use by a consumer. One type of a prepaid program is an employee benefits card, examples of which are a health savings account that is limited to paying for health care related expenses or in which an employer deposits money for use by an employee to pay for specified products and services, such as mass transit fares. There are many types of prepaid cards (gift, travel, youth, general purpose, etc.) that are purchased by a consumer some are might have a pre-defined monetary value like in the case of gift cards ($25, 50, 100) and other will allow the consumer to load a variable amount that can be used to buy products and services, often from any visa merchant.
Unlike cards for a generic credit or debit card, any card accounts related to a prepaid program must first be approved by the transaction handler, which as noted above may be a conventional credit card company, such as Visa, Inc. Heretofore, the establishment of a prepaid program involves an issuer or an agent acting on behalf of an issuer preparing a written application for a new prepaid program. The application required that various specified items of information be provided by the preparer in order to define the type of program and its parameters. In certain programs, a custom portable payment device was issued that included a logo and other information for the particular program or the sponsor of that program. The completed written form and any artwork for the customized portable payment device then submitted electronically to the transaction handler for programs managed by that company. Upon receipt, the submitted materials are routed via electronic means to the proper departments that process the prepaid program applications.
Previously, an agent of an issuer could prepare and submit an application for a prepaid program in the name of the issuer. In many instances, however, the agent was not fully aware of operational guidelines and other restrictions promulgated by the transaction handler for particular types of prepaid programs. In addition, the agent was not always aware of other requirements of the associated issuer. As a consequence, an agent could create a prepaid program on behalf of an issuer even though the nature of the prepaid program conflicted with that issuer's guidelines and restrictions. This presents a need for greater control of the application process for prepaid programs to ensure conformity with the requirements, restrictions, and guidelines.
Upon receiving an application for a prepaid program, the transaction handler reviewed the contents of the application form. If errors or incomplete information were found on the form, the application was returned to the originator for correction. Therefore, at best, the process for creating a new prepaid program could take weeks depending upon the delivery time for each exchange of the written information and the amount of time necessary to ultimately get a properly completed application.
Therefore, it is desirable to improve the process for approving prepaid programs to reduce the amount of time, eliminate many of the common errors in the application, and enable the transaction handler to track the progress of each application through the review process.